In 2021, the Dutch government provided €1.000.000.000,- export credit support to Totals Mozgas project in Cabo Delgado, despite civil society warnings about human rights and environmental risks. The gas exploitation fueled a violent conflict, culminating in the Palma attack, displacing 800,000 people and killing 1,200 people. An investigation requested by Dutch Parliamentarians disclosed serious shortcomings in the projects approval process. Investigative journalism revealed the massive scale of the lives lost. This month, Palma attack victims took Total to court. Still, TotalEnergies wants to restart. Mozambican activists and other stakeholders will discuss what went wrong, and what we can do.
About the speakers
Daniel Ribeiro, from Mozambique, has been an activist for over 25 years. He has a MSc in Ecological Modelling from the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. In 2004, he was instrumental in founding Justiça Ambiental / Friends of the Earth Mozambique (JA! – meaning environmental justice in Portuguese), a Mozambican civil society organisation. He currently serves as the technical and research officer at JA! and also coordinates the international No to Gas campaign. On October 11, 2023, JA! received the Silver Rose Just Transition Award 2023 in Brussels. The award is an initiative of SOLIDAR, its members and the progressive family, with the S&D Group in the European Parliament, the Party of European Socialists (PES), and this year in collaboration with the Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). JA! received the award for their fight for a just transition and against fossil fuel projects and land grabs in Mozambique.
Antonio Muagerene, from Mozambique, is Programme Manager at the Caritas Archdiocesan of Nampula, a charity organisation of the Catholic Church of Nampula Archdioceses. The Caritas is currently supporting the resettlement of Internally displaced People of the armed conflict of the Cabo Delgado province, Northern Mozambique, and the Refugees and asylum seekers hosted in the Marratane National Center for Refugees. Caritas is providing food, shelters, medical support, and farming inputs and capacity building. Antonio Muagerene has deep knowledge of the tradition, history, socio-anthropology, economic and political context of Mozambique, particularly of the northern provinces. He has a MA in Development Management from the Bochum University of Ruhr in Germany, and the Western Cape University, in South Africa.
Prof. Adriano Nuvunga, from Mozambique, is a scholar and Human Rights activist in Mozambique and Africa. Prof. Adriano Nuvunga is the Director of the ‘Centro para Democracia e Direitos Humanos’ (CDD), a human rights organisation affiliated to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and a member of the NGO Pillar of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPI) and of the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA). Prof. Nuvunga Chairs the Mozambique Human Rights Defenders Network and he is the chairperson of the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN). Prof. Nuvunga was recognised as one of the 100 most influential Africans of 2022 by the NewAfrican Magazine. Prof. Nuvunga concluded his PhD in Development Studies in November 2014, from the International Institute of Social Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, the Netherlands. Prof. Nuvunga’s most recent book is on “Extractive Sector Governance and Violent Conflict in Mozambique”.
Alex Perry is a British author and journalist. He organised and conducted the first – and only – survey to assess the impact of the ISIS massacre which took place next to the Mozambique LNG project operated by TotalEnergies, beginning on March 24 , 2021.On October 10th, 2023 , survivors and relatives of those killed in the attack filed a criminal complaint in France against Total Energies for involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger, in a case based on Perry’s investigation.
Bram Vermeulen is a Dutch journalist who has worked as a foreign editor for NOS News and as a correspondent for NRC in South Africa and Turkey. In his VPRO Frontlinie documentary ‘Het Verloren Paradijs’ he sheds light on the escalating violence in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique in 2021 where the TotalEnergies LNG projects are located.
